Winemaker Notes
Blend: 58% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The largest production Bordeaux blend from this estate is their D2 release, which is named after the famed highway leading up to the Médoc from the city of Bordeaux. The 2015 D2 is 58% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It offers a Pomerol-like bouquet of black cherries, leafy herbs, graphite, and lead pencil, and is medium to full-bodied, seamless and elegant. Readers wanting a taste of the style – and quality – from Delille should absolutely check this wine out. Drink bottles over the coming 7-8 years.
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James Suckling
This has very full, bold and slightly jammy blackberries, as well as aromas and flavours blood plums. The tannins hold thick into the finish. What it achieves in body, it sacrifices in detail. It delivers straightforward pleasure for now. A blend of 58% merlot, 35% cabernet sauvignon, 6% cabernet franc and 1% petit verdot. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Exhibiting aromas of loamy soil, crushed currants and creamy new oak, the 2015 D2 Proprietary Red Wine is medium-bodied, chewy and rustic, with a good core of juicy fruit but a firm, somewhat drying finish that seems to be marked by tannins derived from its time in 55% new oak but which could also simply reflect the vintage. It's a blend of 58% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
A large and geographically diverse AVA capable of producing a wide variety of wine styles, the Columbia Valley AVA is home to 99% of Washington state’s total vineyard area. A small section of the AVA even extends into northern Oregon!
Because of its size, it is necessarily divided into several distinctive sub-AVAs, including Walla Walla Valley and Yakima Valley—which are both further split into smaller, noteworthy appellations. A region this size will of course have varied microclimates, but on the whole it experiences extreme winters and long, hot, dry summers. Frost is a common risk during winter and spring. The towering Cascade mountain range creates a rain shadow, keeping the valley relatively rain-free throughout the entire year, necessitating irrigation from the Columbia River. The lack of humidity combined with sandy soils allows for vines to be grown on their own rootstock, as phylloxera is not a serious concern.
Red wines make up the majority of production in the Columbia Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety here, where it produces wines with a pleasant balance of dark fruit and herbs. Wines made from Merlot are typically supple, with sweet red fruit and sometimes a hint of chocolate or mint. Syrah tends to be savory and Old-World-leaning, with a wide range of possible fruit flavors and plenty of spice. The most planted white varieties are Chardonnay and Riesling. These range in style from citrus and green apple dominant in cooler sites, to riper, fleshier wines with stone fruit flavors coming from the warmer vineyards.